Wayists know that every day is holy. We experience the Presence of the Divine every day; we call it the Sacrament of the Moment.

Nevertheless, we do have special remembrance and ritual days, mostly festivals. These days help to refocus us, to realign us on the Way. These days are not holy per se, but they become holy because we make it so. We celebrate sometimes in contemplation, sometimes in joy, and often in revelry with friends and family but always in increased mindfulness of the presence of the Divine in all things. We celebrate life with all our heart and our whole being.

Holy Days

The word holy means, dedicated to (a) god. Therefore, in common English language one may speak of holy places, holy days, and holy books because people dedicate those to their god.

Example of holy days:

In ancient Greece of the Hellenistic Empire, the first day of the week was called the day of the Sun, Sunday. Hellas, the Sun was the chief symbol of God, or the chief God for most people. The Empire was dedicated to Hellas, viz the Hellenistic Empire. Sunday was a holy day dedicated to the chief god, Hellas. Monday, was dedicated to the Moon god and so the week went along, each day dedicated to another god. Being pragmatic people, and very much in tune with reality, the Greeks also dedicated a day to the naughty side of life. On that day, they celebrated the Satyr by getting drunk, getting in trouble with the neighbour's wife, and allowing slaves freedom to revel in boisterousness and letting their hair down. We can therefore dedicate anything to our spirituality or a god, and make it holy.

Do we celebrate Christmas and Diwali?

When living in a predominantly Christian community, we do celebrate Christmas but a toned down version of it. We invite non-Christian friends and newcomers to the community for Christmas lunch and dinner because those people may be very lonely and left out of celebrations at home. However, we do not engage in the Christian rite of shop-till-you-drop and piling up gifts. We enjoy family dinners with our non-Christian friends and Christian friends who don't have family they can be with. Christian homes are traditionally closed to people outside of the family, therefore Wayists have a lot of guests and a great meal. We will have a tree and $5 gifts if there are children because little one's should not feel left out of mainstream society. Many Wayists volunteer to work Christmas shifts so that Christians can be with their families.

Diwali is special to us. As with Christmas, we identify with the reason for celebration. Because Hindus are so good at hosting festivals, we recommend that every family have at least one hindu couple as friends—always hoping to be invited (even though some don’t serve alcohol);))

SeveralMahayana Buddhist festivals are not to be missed. They often celebrate with beautiful colours and amazingly sensuous food.